Textile material and manufacture



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TEXTILE MATERIAL AND MANUFACTURE 8 Sheets-Sheet 8 Filed April 19, 1954 4 y Will/1111mm 1 United States Patent TEXTILE MATERIAL AND MANUFACTURE Heinrich Manersberger, Eurgstadt, Germany, assignor, by

mesne assignments, to VEB Tullmaschinenbau, Karl- Marx-Stadt, Germany, a corporation of the German Democratic Republic Application April 19, 1954, Serial No. 424,217

1 Qlaim. (Cl. 66-192) My invention relates to a novel textile material as Well as to methods of and machinery for producing the same.

It is an object of the invention to produce a textile fabric within less manufacturing time and hence at lower costs than by means of known manufacturing methods such as weaving, knitting or braiding.

Another object of the invention is to produce a textile fabric either from cheaper material or by a cheaper manufacturing method or both.

To achieve these objects, and in accordance with one of the features of the invention, a textile web or fabric is produced by effectively sewing an area pattern of chain stitches into a layer of loose material, such as a matting or array of loose filling threads or a layer of wadding, preferably in such a manner that the stitching yarns are interlinked to form a meshwork or knitted structure.

This method results in a textile fabric that derives its coherence, tensile strength and durability from the fact that the originally loose material, forming the bulk and body of the fabric, is bound or enmeshed within the loops of a multitude of chain stitched warp threads. The use of chain-stitched rows of loops formed by a sewing operation-simulating warp knitting machine has the advantage that the yarn can be unwound from fixed spindles. Consequently the production of the new material is not hampered by the frequent interruptions which are necessary for changing the bobbin when working with conventional sewing machines, or for the change of spools when working with a loom. This is particularly important because in accordance with the present invention the speed of producing the new fabric is rendered almost equal to generally attainable sewing speeds and the stitches are relatively large.

The needles used for the stitching or intermeshing must be suitable for piercing the layer of loose filling threads or Wadding and must act in synchronism with a yarn feeding device that supplies the stitching yarn to the needles and must be capable of supplying a multitude of needles with a corresponding number of yarn threads in close juxtaposition to one another. Moreover, the needles must be sharp-pointed enough even to pierce the individual filling threads should they encounter the same during a stitching operation.

According to another feature of the invention, for binding loose threads by means of chain stitching into a fabric, I provide a device which places a group of threads within one plane in a zigzag design and, at the turning point of the zigzag lines, hangs the threads onto conveyor means whose purpose it is to guide the loose thread system through the sewing device.

These and other features of my invention as well as further objects and advantages will be apparent from,

, 2,890,579 Patented June 16, 1959 and will be referred to in, the following description in conjunction with the embodiments of the invention exemplified by the drawings, in which:

Figs. 1 and 2 are side elevations of the loop-forming device for stitching a layer of loose fiber wedding;

Fig. 3 shows the motion of an eye needle about two loop-forming needles;

Fig. 4 is a side elevation of the drive for the loopforming needles and the eye needles;

Fig. 5 is a plan view of the drive shown in Fig. 4;

Figs. 6 to 9 illustrate diiferent types of the new textile material;

Figs. 10 and 11 are comprehensive views of the arrangement of a machine for producing textile fabrics of the type shown in Figs. 6 and 9, respectively;

Fig. 12 is a side elevation of the filling thread laying device; and

Figs. 13 to 15 represent side-, frontand plan-views of the manner in which thread holding hooks are attached to the conveyor belts of the advancing means for the loose filling thread system.

Referring more particularly to Figs. 1 to 5, the implements shown there are suitable for producing chainstitched rows of warp thread loops which, if desired, can be joined together in the manner of a knitted fabric. These implements comprise the needles 1, each having a fixed hook 2 like a crochet needle and, at the front end, a sharp point 3 like that of a sewing needle. How ever, the point 3 is not within the axis of the needle, but is off center toward the side of the hook. The needle shank is flattened transverse to the plane of the hook, in such a manner that the cross-section of the needle 1 is of approximately ellipsoidal shape. These needles are fastened in holders, either close together or with a larger space between them, and the needle holders are fastened to a needle bar, unless the holders are integral parts of the needle bar.

To close the hook 2 of a needle 1 and to securely retain a thread inserted within the bight of the hook, the shank of the needle is provided with a groove 4 to slidingly accommodate a sufficient length of a wire or strip slide 5 which is fastened to a bracket 6 attached to suitable reciprocating means.

In synchronism with the loop-forming needles operate the eye needles 7 which are supplied with the stitching yarn or Warp thread 8 and serve to insert the yarn into the hooks 2 of the needles 1. The holders 9 of the eye needles 7 are fastened to a bar and, for the justmentioned purpose, are rotated at the proper time about the axes of the needles 1 in the same manner as in a warp knitting machine.

For rapid machine operation, it is advisable to use circular eccentric cams for actuating the loop-forming needles and the eye needles. As shown in Fig. 5, the needle bar 14 carrying the loop-forming needles 1 is actuated by a connecting rod 13 extending from the eccenter ring 12 of an eccentric cam 11 which is rotated by the motor driven shaft 10. Similarly, the reciprocating movement of the slides 5, required for closing the books of the needles 1 is obtained by means of an eccentric 15 actuating a bar that actuates the brackets 6 to which the slides 5 are attached through a cam. The holders 9 of the eye needles 7 are fastened to the bar 16 which, by means of suitably attached lever arms 17, is fixedly mounted on the shaft 20. This shaft, being rotatably mounted within the bearings 19, is adapted to slide longitudinally back and forth and carries a short lever 21.

Lever 21 connected a coupling rod 22 linked to the eccentric ring 24. Ring 24 encloses the eccentric 25 which, by means of this arrangement, moves the eye needles up and down. Aside from this reciprocating movement, the eye needles must undergo an axially transverse back and forth movement in order to insert threads into the hooks of the needles 1. As shown in Fig. 3 the path of the eye needles appears from above as a pronefigure eight.

I have found it advantageous to let each of the eye needles circle around two adjacently mounted hook needles 1 and to cause each eye needle to alternately supply'two hook needles with yarn, each time at the moment when one of the hook needles has reached its foremost position and the eye needle has passed the highest point of its upward movement. For this purpose, the eye needles 7 and the shaft 20 carrying the same are operated to perform one complete back and forth movement while the needles 1 are moved twice back andforth. To accomplish this, a pinion 26 keyed to the shaft engages a spur wheel 27 of twice its size. Consequently, the spur wheel rotates at one half of the speed of shaft 10. Spur wheel27 is fixedly connected with the eccentricls whose ring member is linked by a rod 29 to a connecting rod 31 axially slidable in a bearing 30. When in operation, the rod 31 imparts axial reciprocations to the shaft by actuating an angle lever 33 rotatably mounted on a pivot 32. A tension spring 34 fastened about the shaft 20 between the bearing 19 and the adjacent lever arm 17 of the needle bar 16 aids the axially oscillating movement by forcing the shaft against an adjusting screw 35 attached to the free end of angle lever 33.

For producing the textile fabric as shown in Fig. 1 the needles 1 are made to pierce a layer 36 of textile fibers, such as cotton wadding or upholstery stufiing. However, as indicated in Fig. 2, the material may also be a system of loose fibers 37 that are either piled together at random distribution or are processed into a loose textile fabric. Or the system may comprise several layers of wadding, with loose textile fibers placed therebetween. To prevent the layer of material from dodging the needles, a comb-like structure is arranged in back of the material. This structure consists of a bracket 38 containing a row of needles or tines 39 which point downward and are arranged so as to permit the needles 1 to penetrate between adjacent tines. Opposite thereto is a similar comb-structure 40, the tines of which point in an upward direction. The structures 38 and 40 are mounted so as to leave a narrow space between opposite tines to permit an unobstructued passage of the loops formed by the threads of yarn 8, together with the material and to permit each eye needle 7 to alternately supply its yarn 8 to a differentneedle 1.

After the yarn 8 is placed into the hooks 2 of needles 1 and has been formed into loops, the needles 1 are withdrawn from the material together with the loops. During this stage of operation the material being stitched must be held in position by a suitable support. This support may consist of a bracket 41 of a construction similar to that of the bracket 38, or it may consist of a perforated metal sheet. To facilitate the insertion of material at the beginning of the operation, the upper margin of the support 41 is preferably bent so as to enlarge the opening between the two brackets.

The afore-described device is suitable for producing different kinds of warp loop chains. The simplest way is to guide the layer 36, for example a layer of cotton, through a device of this kind comprising a plurality of needles 1 spaced more or less far apart from each other, whereby each needle 1 produces a separate loop chain and the layer 36 is bound and made coherent by a corresponding number of parallel loop chains. To prevent ripping of the chain in case a loop is damaged or destroyed, it is advisable to provide two eye needles 7 for separate thread of yarn. The yarn for the two eye needles 7 can then be inserted alternately into the hooks 2 of the respective needle 1, so that, as illustrated in Fig. 6, the chains consist of alternating threads 8' and 8". In such a chain, the thread which does not form a loop at a particular point, loosely passes over this point at which the other thread pierces the layer 36.

Fig. 7 shows another piece of fabric produced with warp chains made from two different, alternating threads of yarn, such as the chain 42 consisting of the threads 43 and 44. In this material, however, each of the two threads forms alternately the loops of two diflerent chains,

although they do not require the arrangement of two eye needles for every sewing needle 1, because the thread 43 forms the loops of the chains 42 and 45 while the thread 44forms the loops of the chains 42 and 46. Consequently, the threads 43 and 44 lie in a zigzag line on top of the fibrous layer 36. The chains 42, 45 and 46 are thereby joined with each other as in a tricotstitched fabric, from which the herein-described material however diifers in having a layer of cotton or the like incorporated within the meshwork.

The loop chains shown in Figs. 8 and 9 are made in a similar manner. Here the loops of each of the chains 42, 45 and 46 consist of two alternately dilferent threads, whereby each of the threads in turn forms the loops of two adjacent chains. However, in this instance the purpose of these chains is not to bind a layer of cotton wadding, but to integrate into a durable textile fabric two systems to loose filling strands which cross each other. The strands 47 are superimposed upon the strand system 48, without being interwoven therewith or interlaced in any way. According to Fig. 8, the filling strands or threads cross each other at right angles; according to Fig. 9 they cross at an acute angle. In addition to the strand systems 47 and 48 which run obliquely to the chains 42,

, 45 and 46, the material according to Fig. 9 comprises every needle 1 and to supply each eye needle with a 75 additional threads 49, running parallel to the chains 42, 45 and 46 in the longitudinal direction of the fabric.

A device as illustrated in Fig. 10 can be used for making textile material according to the invention from cotton wadding, fleece or superimposed layers of carded material. The loop-forming elements of the device are denoted by the same reference numerals as the respective parts illustrated in Figs. 1 to 5 and described above. The eccentric drive of the loop-forming elements is enclosed by a housing 50 mounted on the longitudinal beams 52 and 53 which also connect the sides 51 of the machine-frame structure with each other. Fastened to each of the sides 51 is a guide frame 54 to retain within vertical slots thereof, the shaft of a warp beam 55 for the cotton supply. The rim of this warp beam rests on the conveyor belt 56 which passes about the rolls 57 and 58. One of these rolls serves as the driving roll, while a separate roll 59 is provided to keep the belt under tension.

The matted material, being unwound from the warp beam, is carried over the roll 58 and over a guide sheet 60 past the loop-forming needles 1 where it is interspersed with loop chains of the type found in a tricot knitting. The required warp threads 8 are supplied from a suitable located creel or yarn beam and, by means of the eye needles 7, are inserted into the hooks of the sharp-pointed needles 1 which in terms of construction and operation resemble sewing machine needles. The path travelled by the threads from the yarn tensioning device to the eye needles 7 should be of sufiicient length to secure for the threads the amount of elasticity required for eliminating the necessity of a resiliently yielding tensioning rod. If needed, riders, such as the rider held by a rail 66 removably attached to the frame of the device, may be set upon the threads passing from the guide rail 103 which is fixedly mounted within the frame.

The durable textile fabric into which the matted material is converted by the action of the needles 1 is then transferrem over the guide rollers 61, 62 and 63, to the winding beam .64.

Similar to the .afore-described chain-stitching of cotton layers, the device shown in Figs. 11 and 12 may be used for the conversion .of systems of overcrossing strands into textile fabrics of the type shown in Figs. 8 and 9. However, the device requires auxiliary means for the sleaving of the overcrossing strands and for transferring them to the loop-forming elements.

' According to the present invention, the loose filling strand systems 47 and 48 of Figs. 8 and 9 to be integrated in the herein described manner, are made up of the threads 37'. These threads are unwound from reels or from a beam and are fed to a group of thread carriers 67. The carriers 67, together with individual leaf springs 68, an inflexible guide sheet 69 and brackets 70, are secured by an angle iron 71 to two standards 73 mounted on the respective side walls 72 of the machine frame directly above the housing 50 for the eccentric drive mechanisms. From thread carriers 67 the threads 37 pass through respective perforations of a guide rail 74 and thence to a suitably dimensioned row of eye needles 75 fastened to a bracket 76. The guide rail and the bracket are fastened to two standards 77, each slidingly fastened to a slide bar 78. The guide rail 74, the bracket 76 and the standards 77 represent a rigid frame structure which is moved back and forth along the two slide bars 78 by means of a rope 177 actuated by a drive located within the lowest part of the machine. Upon reaching either one of its end positions, the frame structure brings the threads 37' alternately to the two conveyor belts 80 and 81, which may be made from belting, webbing, steel straps, chains, etc. As indicated in Figs. 13 to 15, each of these conveyor belts comprises closely arranged "lateral metal strips 82 fastened to the conveyor belt by screws 83. The ends of the screws are threaded into a narrow metal strip 84 thus fastening the strip to the underside of the conveyor belt. In this manner the metal strips 82 can be easily exchanged. The outside ends of strips 84 are bent at 85 to fit into the slotted guide rails 86 which absorb the pull exerted by the threads 37' in the direction of the metal strips 82 and thus prevent a deflection of the conveyor belts 80 and 82. Moreover, the rails 86 are adapted to increase the distance between the conveyor belts within the operating range of the needles 1, in order to impart tension to the threads 37 held by the conveyor belts and to thereby facilitate the stitching of uniform loop chains. At the point where the finished goods are removed, the rails 86 converge somewhat to bring the conveyor belts in closer proximity, in order to facilitate the removal of the threads 37' from the conveyor belts. The inside end of each metal strip carries several heddle-hoops 88, fastened thereto by means of cast leaden sleeves 87. The hooks point in an upward direction. The distance between adjacent books 88 should dilfer as little as possible from the distance between adjacent eye needles 75. The eye needles guide the threads 37' in such a manner as to insert them into the hooks 88 at the moment when the eye needles reverse their movement. This procedure is facilitated by the fact that, during the reciprocating movement of the eye needles 75, the conveyor belts 80 and 81 are moving parallel to the row of the eye needles. As a result, during the reversal of the reciprocating movement, the threads arrange themselves transversely about the hooks. The movements of the conveyor belts 80 and 81 and of the eye needles 75 must be synchronized in such a manner, that each thread 37 engages only one of the hooks 88. Another requirement is that during one complete back and forth movement of the eye needles 75 the conveyor belts 80 and 81 proceed a distance exactly equal to the length of the row of the eye needles 75 so as to attain an uninterrupted succession of groups of threads which attach themselves to the rows of hooks 88 6 and, thereupon, form a dense thread structure that, because of the reciprocating movement of the eye needles 75, consists of two rows of threads crossing each other. The angle at which these two rows of threads cross each other depends upon the length of the row of eye needles 75 in relation to the distance between the oppositeheddle hooks of the two conveyor belts and 81. Thus, if the row of eye needles is equal in length to the distance between the conveyor belts 80 and 81, the two rows of thread cross each other at an angle of 60. The angle becomes larger with an increase in the relative length of the row of eye needles. In the case of a relatively short row of eye needles 75, the angle becomes more acute. This explains the difference in the crossing angle between the thread systems 47 and 48 in Figs. 8 and 9, respectively.

To insure a faultless insertion of the threads 37' into the hooks 88, the threads must be brought below the plane of the hooks at the end of each back and forth movement. For this purpose, two dual-arm frames are mounted on each of the stands 77. The frames are made rotatable in the joints to swing about fulcrums at the center of the arms. A spring 106 fastened between the arm 90 and an eyelet 105 of the arm 89 tries to retain the two arms in a horizontal position. The arms are rotatably joined to each other by means of vertical rods 91 and 92 which remain parallel during the swinging movement. A

Two rollers 93 and 94 are journalled to the free ends of the rods 91 and 92, respectively. Two cam rails 95 and 97 extend from the incline frame side walls 72 into the path of the respective rollers 93, 94. Rail 95 is so shaped that the roller 94 rises along an inclined edge of the rail shortly before the eye needles 75 move over the hooks 88 of the conveyor belt 80. The rod 92 is thereby raised while the rod 91 is lowered correspondingly. Pressure blades, such as the pressure blade 96, are fastened to the lower end of the rods. The free ends of these blades are slightly longer than the row of hooks 88 so that, at the terminal positions of the eye needles 75, the blades reach below the hooks 88. By means of this arrangement, the threads 37 are pressed into the intervals between the hooks in order to assure the take-up of the threads by the hooks as the conveyor belts move along.

The longitudinally running warp threads 49 shown in Fig. 9 are taken off a separate warp beam and are loosely laid on top of the threads 37 held by the conveyor belts 80 and 81. If desired, a special, fixedly mounted row of eye needles may be provided for the threads 49 near the loop-forming means 1 and 7, or the tines 39 of the detainer bracket 38 may be replaced by eye needles.

The two conveyor belts 80 and 81 are endless belts, mounted to pass around 'dling pulleys 99, 100, 101 and a driving pulley 61. The idling pulley 99 and the driving pulley 61 extend over the entire width of the textile fabric to be produced and prevent sagging of the latter. As a result the device secures a faultless movement of the material across the guide sheet 41 toward the loop forming needles 1 which, together with the eye needles 7 supplying the warp thread 8, provide the material with the desired interlinked loop chains.

While I have described what I consider to be preferred embodiments of the methods, devices and products of my invention, it is obvious that many changes can be made without departing from the invention. Therefore, I do not limit myself to the exact forms herein shown and described nor to anything less than the whole of my invention as hereinbefore set forth, and as hereinafter claimed.

I claim:

A textile fabric comprising a plurality of layers of loose filling yarn and wan-p thread loop chains interlacing and binding the yarn of raid layers, wherein alternate loops of each of said chains are made from difierent threads while each of said threads forms alternate loops of two-adjacent chains, each of said layers of ,loose yarn consisting of lengths of filling yarn arranged parallel to each other and aslant to the lengths of yarn of 5 the adjacent layer, and two of said layers being formed by asingle, continuous yarn system in a zigzag pattern of superimposed parallel lengths of yarn.

I References Cited in the file of this patent 10 UNITED STATES PATENTS 8 Young July 29,: Stowe June 30, Smith Mar. 4, Buhlmann Oct. 25, 'Schonfeld Aug. 27, Schonfeld Oct. 1, Riley May 24, Amidon Nov. 15, Schonfeld -2- Feb. 28, Schonfeld Feb. 28, Szucs Sept. 29, Stolle et a1. .Tune'l9, Te Strake Dec. 22,

Gross et a1. Apr. 26, 

